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46
In one of the best residential areas a 10 roomed house where
the lease had only a few years to run, was acquired by a female
property speculator from outside the Borough. Each of the 10
rooms was let out to 10 separate families, with an income of
£6/10/0 per week. Suitable action was taken to stop their
conditions and the house reverted to the original leaseholder.
Up to the passing of the Housing Act the powers of a Local
Authority to deal with these problems were very limited. This Act
not only brought the powers to deal with Slum Clearance but
encouraged Local Authorities to build further houses for the
working classes at rents they could afford to pay, thus helping to
solve the difficulties herein referred to.
Following upon the reports of the Chief Sanitary Inspector,
the Health Committee applied to the Ministry of Health for
powers to make and enforce bye-laws to cope with the sub-letting
problem and Section 6 of the principal Housing Act was put into
operation for the establishment of bye-laws in the case of houses
intended or used for occupation by the working classes.
The principal powers contained in those bye-laws are as
follows:—
(1) The power of making and enforcing bye-laws under the
Public Health Act, 1875, and the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, shall include the making and enforcing by local authorities of
bye-laws in the case of houses intended or used for occupation by
the working classes
(a) for fixing and from time to time varying the number of
persons who may occupy a house which is let in
lodgings or occupied by members of more than one
family, and for separation of the sexes therein;
(b) for the registration and inspection of such houses;
(c) for enforcing drainage and promoting cleanliness and
ventilation of such houses;